Pettimudi, Munnar: Five days after the deadly landslide that swept away a tea estate workers' settlement in Munnar's Pettimudi, three more bodies have been recovered from the debris, raising the toll to 52 in the tragedy.
The bodies were retrieved from the Pettimudi stream that runs near the settlement.
It is yet to be ascertained as to how many people have been caught under the debris.
The Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company, which runs the estate where the tragedy struck, said 83 people lived in the affected ‘line houses.’ The Revenue Department count indicated 78 people.
The company said 19 people had gone missing. Only 12 people escaped the landslip from the settlement.
Recently, a child’s birthday function was organized in one of the houses and sources said a couple of people had come visiting. The company believes that they could also have been trapped under the debris.
Pettimudi is 21 km from Munnar and is linked to Tamil Nadu through Marayur and Udumalpet.
Reports said the secluded geography of the place made rescue even more difficult. The power and telephone lines had gotten cut many days before the landslip in strong rain and winds. The Periyavare bridge too had collapsed and this made rescue efforts even more difficult.
Source of landslide traced to Kurisumala
The Forest Department has traced the source of the August 7 Pettimudi landslip to Kurisumala Chola. The location is on the fringe of the land owned by the Kanan Devan Tea Company and the Eravikulam National Park in Idukki district.
The ill-fated ‘line houses’ of the tea company are 800 metres down the spot of the land implosion. Huge boulders and water tumbled down with earth, directly on to people who were mostly sleeping in these houses.
Eravikulam Assistant Wildlife Warden Job J Neriyamparambil said the spot identified by the department was where two cholas (streams) converged. He said the personnel had found one more stream nearby. There was a similar landslip in a place called Gravel Banks, near Pettimudi.